Multiservice Merchant Gateway

1. A method comprising: receiving a first message from a point-of-sale terminal, wherein the receiving the first message comprises intercepting the first message as the first message is being sent from the point-of-sale terminal, and wherein the first message is formatted for transmission via a public switched telephone network (PSTN); preparing a second message based at least in part on the first message; transmitting the second message over a wide area network; providing a client of a merchant with access to the wide area network, wherein the receiving, the preparing, the transmitting, and the providing are performed by a merchant gateway device located on a premises operated by the merchant, and wherein the client is one of a device operated by a customer of the merchant and a device operated by the merchant; and converting the second message into a third message; and sending the third message via the PSTN, wherein the receiving, the preparing, and the transmitting are performed by the merchant gateway device, and wherein the converting and the sending are performed by a PSTN proxy server coupled to the merchant gateway device by the wide area network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmitting the second message over a wide area network further comprises: transmitting the second message to at least one of a service provider computing device and a transaction server.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first message describes a transaction to be authorized.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the transaction to be authorized is a financial transaction.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the first message at least partially conforms to at least one of International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-8583, Visa International Service Association (VISA) I, and VISA II protocols.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the preparing a second message based at least in part on the first message further comprises at least one of: encapsulating the first message; encrypting at least a portion of the first message; and extracting data from the first message.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the second message includes at least one of: a transmission device identifier, a timestamp, and a destination address for transmission of the second message.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmitting the second message over a wide area network further comprises: transmitting the second message over the wide area network according to a security protocol.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising: detecting an off-hook signal generated by the point-of-sale terminal.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising: generating a dial tone signal for detection by the point-of-sale terminal.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising: detecting a dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signal transmitted by the point-of-sale terminal.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising: decoding at least a portion of the DTMF signal transmitted by the point-of-sale terminal; comparing the decoded at least a portion of the DTMF signal with a plurality of values; and selecting a network destination for use in the transmitting the second message over the wide area network.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein: the first message is received via a first interface; and the second message is transmitted via a second interface.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising: performing a modem training sequence in conjunction with the point-of-sale terminal.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving a response to the second message via the wide area network; preparing a third message based at least in part on the response to the second message; and transmitting the third message to the point-of-sale terminal.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: contacting a check in server via the wide area network, wherein the receiving, the preparing, the transmitting, and the contacting are performed by a merchant gateway device, and wherein the contacting comprises sending status information to the check in server.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the status information comprises diagnostic information associated with one or more devices connected to the merchant gateway device.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising repeating the contacting at least once during each of a plurality of intervals.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising receiving, from the check in server, at least one of: a configuration change and a software update.

20. The method of claim 16 , further comprising: coordinating distribution of information among a plurality of check in servers, wherein the coordinating is performed by the check in server, and wherein the information is associated with the merchant gateway device.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing access to the wide area network comprises providing Internet access to the client of the merchant.

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising: providing a user interface to the merchant; and receiving information specifying a policy via the user interface, wherein the policy indicates one or more limitations on the Internet access provided to the client of the merchant.

23. An apparatus comprising: a memory storing program instructions; a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the program instructions stored in the memory; a first communications interface coupled to the processor and configured to interface with a point-of-sale terminal; and a second communications interface coupled to the processor and configured to interface with a wide area network, wherein the first communications interface is configured to intercept a first message being sent from the point-of-sale terminal, wherein the first message is formatted for transmission via a public switched telephone network (PSTN), wherein the second communications interface is configured to transmit a second message over a wide area network, wherein the second message is based, at least in part, on the first message, wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to provide a client of a merchant with access to the wide area network, wherein the client is one of a device operated by a customer of the merchant and a device operated by the merchant, wherein the second message is converted into a third message by a PSTN proxy server coupled to the second communications interface by the wide area network, and wherein the third message is sent via the PSTN by the PSTN proxy server.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the first communications interface is a PSTN capable modem.

25. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising: at least another communications interface coupled to the processor and configured to interface with a point-of-sale terminal, wherein the at least another communications interface further comprises a serial interface.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the at least another communications interface includes at least one of a PSTN capable modem, a recommended standard (RS) 232 interface, an RS485 interface, and an universal serial bus (USB) interface.

27. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising: a serial controller coupled between the processor and the first communications interface.

28. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the second communications interface is one of an Ethernet interface and a broadband interface.

29. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the second communications interface further comprises an analog front end circuit.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein the analog front end circuit operates in conjunction with the processor to provide broadband modem functionality.

31. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising: a third communications interface coupled to the processor and configured to interface with a local area network.

32. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising: an expansion card interface coupled to the processor.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 further comprising: an expansion card coupled to the expansion card interface, wherein the expansion card further comprises at least one of: a flash memory card, a personal computer manufacturer interface adapter (PCMCIA) card, a Mini peripheral component interconnect (PCI) card, and a wireless network access card.

34. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein memory further comprises at least one of a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory.

35. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the processor further comprises at least one of a general purpose microprocessor, an embedded processor, a network processor, a system-on-a-chip (SoC) device, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

36. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising: a switch circuit configured to connect signals received on the first communications interface to a telephone network coupled at least one of the second communications interface and a third communications interface.

37. The method of claim 1 , wherein the point-of-sale terminal is configured to perform at least one of: information gathering and information reporting.

38. A method comprising: receiving a first message from a point-of-sale terminal, wherein the receiving the first message comprises intercepting the first message as the first message is being sent from the point-of-sale terminal, and wherein the first message is formatted for transmission via a public switched telephone network (PSTN); preparing a second message based at least in part on the first message; transmitting the second message over a wide area network; converting the second message into a third message; and sending the third message via the PSTN, wherein the receiving, the preparing, and the transmitting are performed by a merchant gateway device, and wherein the converting and the sending are performed by a PSTN proxy server coupled to the merchant gateway device by the wide area network; and contacting a check in server via the wide area network, wherein the receiving, the preparing, the transmitting, and the contacting are performed by the merchant gateway device, and wherein the contacting comprises sending status information to the check in server.

39. A method comprising: receiving a first message from a point-of-sale terminal, wherein the receiving the first message comprises intercepting the first message as the first message is being sent from the point-of-sale terminal, and wherein the first message is formatted for transmission via a public switched telephone network (PSTN); preparing a second message based at least in part on the first message; transmitting the second message over a wide area network; providing a client of a merchant with access to the wide area network, wherein the receiving, the preparing, the transmitting, and the providing are performed by a merchant gateway device located on a premises operated by the merchant, and wherein the client is one of a device operated by a customer of the merchant and a device operated by the merchant; sending communications generated by a peripheral device to a PSTN proxy server via the wide area network, wherein the sending is performed by the merchant gateway device; and converting one of the communications received from the merchant gateway device to a PSTN communication, wherein the converting is performed by the PSTN proxy server.

40. A computer readable storage medium encoding program instructions executable to implement a merchant gateway device, wherein the merchant gateway device is configured to: intercept a first message as the first message is being sent from a point-of-sale terminal, wherein the first message is formatted for transmission via a public switched telephone network (PSTN); prepare a second message based at least in part on the first message; initiate transmission of the second message over a wide area network; and provide a client of a merchant with access to the wide area network, wherein the merchant gateway device is configured to be located on a premises operated by the merchant, and wherein the client is one of a device operated by a customer of the merchant and a device operated by the merchant; wherein the second message is converted into a third message by a PSTN proxy server coupled to the merchant gateway device by the wide area network; and wherein the third message is sent via the PSTN by the PSTN proxy server.